Pwned (17 page)

19. A Heart Frozen in
Carbonite

I couldn’t help myself. I had to log onto
Voyager’s Quest
that night to see if Parker was on. I knew I’d be meeting him at the school in less than an hour (if he actually showed up), but I wanted to talk to him one last time as Xandris before he learned who I really was.

Who knew? M
aybe he wouldn’t even like me as Xandris once he found out that I had been creepily cyberstalking him ever since he moved here. I would be mad if someone who knew me as well as I knew Parker acted like a completely different person and lied to my face, day in and day out.

“I’m not saying the game is haunted,” Kaydinn said almost the instant I logged on. “I’m just saying it’s a l
ittle creepy that there are NPCs wandering around the city that we can’t see without a revealing spell.”

“Yeah
, but are they supposed to be ghosts?” Parker asked.

I guess if he was on
Voyager’s Quest
, he wasn’t too nervous about tonight. Or maybe he was, and he was using the game to ease his mind. Although, I guess he didn’t really need to be nervous about anything—not like I did.

“Hello! They’r
e called ‘Angered Apparitions.’”

“Nice alliteration,” Eilarae chimed in.

That’s probably a pretty good indication that they’re pissed off ghosts
, Sovay typed.

“Can you get a quest from them or anything?” Parker asked, now actually sounding concerned.

Getting kissed under the bleachers by a cheerleader who hands you a mysterious note (that I still didn’t know the contents of) wasn’t enough to worry him, but give Parker a mystery in the game that he couldn’t quite figure out, and it was suddenly the end of the world.

Nerds.

“You can’t get anything from them. You can’t even click on them!” Kaydinn shouted in excitement.

“You should t
weet about it. See if anyone knows what they are,” Eilarae suggested.

“Just do a shout in the city and have other people use a reveal spell to see if they know what they are,” Parker said
, quite logically.

“Done and done,” Kaydinn responded, “Oh
, by the way, Eilarae and I posted pictures of our Comic Con costumes on the guild website. You should go check them out,” he added before our chat channel went silent.

Curious to
see what someone in our guild looked like (besides Parker, obviously), I switched over from my game screen to an Internet browser and pulled up our guild website. Posted in a forum thread was a picture of a smiling couple who couldn’t be older than 25.

Kaydinn was tall, with a dark brown faux-hawk and beard. He wore the epic armor his character usually sported
, and he was grinning the cheesiest grin I’d ever seen while he held up a fake glass of ale.

Eilarae looked a bit younger than him. She had light brown skin and long black hair that cascaded in a waterfall of curls down her back. She had somehow managed to sew wings that looked like they were made out of glitter onto her cloth armor costume. It looked as if the wings weren’t really there physically,
but were just a cascade of sparkles that came in a continuous stream from an unknown source. She had definitely nailed the look of the spell perfectly.

“Eilarae
, those are awesome!” I said, clicking back over to the game to praise her amazing craftsmanship.

“It was NBD
, really,” she replied modestly.

“Whatever, I’m pretty sure I’m going to commission you to make me a costume for Halloween,” Parker said enthusiastically.

I had been thinking the exact same thing, but if I had Eilarae make me the Chell costume I wanted, I could never wear it to school—that would involve explaining what it really was. Of course, Tawny would probably think I was dressing up as a slutty pumpkin, so maybe it would work out in my favor.

“You guys just say the word and I’ll make you costumes too,” she said happily. “Oh
, and Kaydinn says we have to be quiet so he can solve the mystery of the angry ghosts in the cities or something,” she added in a chipper voice, before our chat channel fell silent once more.

Hey you
, I typed to Parker, wanting to seize my opportunity to see how he was doing before I got him arrested.

Of course
, I fully intended to go bail him out, but the initial shock of being handcuffed wouldn’t be too fun. Or if I finally succeeded in doing something meaningful in life, I’d actually be able to warn him before the cops showed up. But given my past track record, we wouldn’t count on my saving the day just in the nick of time.

Hey Xan
dris! Out saving the world one orc at a time?
he asked.

Of course
, I responded, wondering how I could ask him if he had any plans for tonight when, in fact, it was already almost one in the morning.

That wouldn’t look suspicious at all
, now would it?

Anything new and exciting going on in your life?
I asked.

Hopefully
it was nonchalantly.

Guess who got a secret note from Elite Cheerleader today?

That sounds intriguing. What did it say?
I asked.

I actually did
want to know what the note—that I had supposedly written to him—said. I could only imagine what Tawny would have put in that letter to get him to come to the pool. She didn’t know him like I did, so she wouldn’t understand that saying “we should go skinny dipping” wouldn’t get a boy like Parker to sneak into the school at night. It required a soul to write something convincing enough to lure him there, and I highly doubted she was up for the challenge.

Well
, since you asked . . .
he began, apparently revving up to type out the note word-for-word.

It took a minute for his response to show up
, but when it did, I actually started to wonder if Tawny was human. She hit the nail right on the head.

Parker, I’m sorry things have been so weird lately. I know I’ve been sending you some mixed signals
, but I want to clear everything up tonight. Please meet me at the school pool at 2:00 a.m. so I can explain. I really want to clear the air between us because I care about you. — Reagan.

I was slightly dumbfounded that Tawny was perceptive e
nough to write a heartfelt and convincing letter, but she somehow managed to do it. She was  nothing if not good at what she did.

Wow. That’s pretty crazy. So
, are you going to go?
I asked, waiting for his response with bated breath.

What do you think I should do?
he asked in return, catching me off guard.

I should tell him to stay as far awa
y from the school as possible. This was my perfect chance to get Parker out of the situation. Tawny would never know that I had said anything to him, and I could just say he hadn’t shown up.

But then there would be no point in spray
-painting the lockers, and I wouldn’t be able to get evidence showing the world what an awful person Tawny was. Of course, by
“
the world,” I meant the police. Every high school-aged kid already knew what a parasite she was.

I just had to get Parker there,
and then I could worry about getting him back out again.

I think you should go. What could it hurt
, right?
I asked, feeling like a complete double-crosser.

I was hoping you’d say that, b
ecause Elite Cheerleader definitely kissed me again . . . twice. And I was hoping that (as a girl), you’d know what in the world that meant. I sure don’t get it.

Oh great. Even in the game I couldn’t avoid having awkward conversations with Parker about my impulsive actions.

“Okay, from what I gather, the ghosts are part of a world event that’s happening before the next expansion. Right now they’re all just hanging around, but as soon as whatever is going to happen with the next expansion happens, the crap will hit the fan and all of the ghosts will appear once every hour to completely wipe out the major cities!” Kaydinn shouted, overjoyed by this information.

“How could anyone even know that?” Parker asked, and I silently thanked
Kaydinn for the distraction.

“Someone who works at the company leaked some of the expansion notes
, I guess,” he answered.

Lucky for us,
Sovay typed.

“Sucks for the person who worked there IRL though. They’re probably going to get fired,” Eilarae said.

“Yeah, but babe, it’s kind of their own fault for leaking the expansion notes in the first place,” Kaydinn pointed out.

He has a point,
Sovay typed.

“I think it sounds awesome,” I told the guild, hoping we could keep the conversation
going so that Parker wouldn’t notice I hadn’t ever answered his question.

“Holy
crap!” Eilarae suddenly shouted, sounding much more like Kaydinn than she ever had. “Dr. Who is filming an episode like six hours from here! They never film in the U.S.! We have to go. Bye guys!”

W
ithout further explanation, she and Kaydinn both logged off at the same time.

Yeah
, I’m out of here too,
Sovay typed before instantly logging off.

“Bye
, I guess,” I said over chat to the almost empty chat channel.

“So,
now that I can just talk to you in here, what do you think all of that means?” Parker asked, his voice sounding slightly different with the added microphone static.

I was definitely grateful for the change since I knew he’d recognize my voice without the static. Although
, I guess it was possible he had already noticed the similarity after Kaydinn pointed it out.

“I really wish I could help you analyze your girl problems tonight with Elite Cheerleader
, but I need to get to bed. Plus, you need to hurry if you’re going to go meet her at the school in thirty minutes, right?” I asked.

“You’re right. I’ll tell you what happens tomorrow,” he promised.

“Can’t wait to hear it,” I said. “Good luck Rekrap.”

“Good
night Xandris.”

20.
Reroll

“
I have to admit, I really didn’t think you had it in you,” Tawny said to me as she passed out duffle bags to the black-clad cheerleaders in the darkened school hallways. “But the nerd is in the pool area waiting for you. I’ve never been prouder.”

“I’m glad,” I said stiffly, also distributing duffle bags and wondering how I could be subtle while collecting evidence.

“Doesn’t the school have security cameras or something?” Kendyll asked in a worried, squeaky voice. She turned her head from side to side quickly like a nervous little bird, checking the walls for any sign of cameras.

“Our school doesn’t have them
yet,” Tawny replied drolly. “Something about violating students
’
rights.”

“Oh good,” Kendyll breathed as she took her duffle bag and went to work with
the spray-paint.

I was careful to only snap pictures on my phone when Tawny wasn’t eyeing me suspiciously. It was dark and most of us were wearing black
, so I could only hope the pictures were enough evidence. The more I took, though, the more I realized there wasn’t a whole lot showing up on my screen.

Maybe I should have confided in Parker so that he could help me rig some sort of hidden camera. I’m sure he still would have showed up once I’d explained why he was there in the first place.
Of course—leave it to me to figure out a solution to my problem once it was already too late.

Good work
, Reagan.

Hoping for evidence that was a bit more solid than some blurry dark photos
, I switched my phone to video mode and stuck it in my pocket, thinking that if I could at least get a confession out of Tawny, that might be enough.

“Reagan
, why are you just standing around?” Tawny asked. “Grab some spray-paint.”

“Tawny
, I don’t know if this is such a good idea,” I told her honestly.

Yes
, I was trying to get a confession out of her, but if I was able to talk her out of this whole thing, maybe I wouldn’t need to turn her in at all.

“The
prank was your idea,” she pointed out.

Now
when I turned my evidence over to the police, they’d know I was definitely involved in the whole thing. But maybe that could be my own payment to all the people I’d hurt in the past by listening to Tawny. I’d do whatever the police wanted as a penance for my bad behavior over the years.

I was fine with that.

“I know it was my idea, but it’s not looking like such a great one anymore.”

“So help me
, Reagan, if you ruin this for me when I’m so close to finally crushing that little nerd, I’ll kill you,” she threatened.

I wondered if there was a way I could edit that part out when I gave the video to the authorities. They didn’t know Tawny like I did. I knew her death threats were a common occurrence
, but they might take them a little too much to heart.

“You know what? I want you to go lock the nerd in the pool area,” she finally said, pressing the cold metal key into my hand.

I had no idea how she’d gotten a key to the school, but I didn’t want to know, so I kept my mouth shut.

“We’re almost done here
, so you go lock him in and meet me at my car when you’re done. Kendyll is about to pull the fire alarm to get the police over here, so you’d better hurry up.”

“Sounds good,” I said with a roll of my eyes that luckily Tawny couldn’t see in the dark.

I would have been mad about having to lock Parker in, but, as it turned out, Tawny had given me the perfect way to get him out unharmed.

“Let’s go,” she said to the rest of the girls, leading the pack back toward the school’s entrance. “Kendyll, once we get to the last fire alarm near the exit
, you have to pull it.”

“Got it,” she said enthusiastically.

She was enjoying having Tawny rely on her so much. I could tell she was only one more favor away from being the new Reagan. I didn't really care, since I was getting out, but I felt bad for her.

“See you guys out there,” I said with a wave, making my way through the darkened hallways toward the pool room.

In a way, it was kind of beautifully symmetrical that I’d officially met Parker for the first time when The Squad had locked him in a closet, and now I was here, setting him free from yet another prank they’d decided to pull.

Opening the door to the pool room, I was slightly astonished by
how bright it was. Someone—maybe Parker—had turned on the light in the pool, which gave the entire room a neon blue glow. It kind of reminded me of an episode of
Sherlock
, and I hoped Moriarty wouldn’t be waiting for me near the water.

Luckily
, my nerdy imagination was quieted when I saw Parker. He sat on the edge of the low diving board with his feet dangling just above the water, his Converse reflecting on the surface. I could see a faint smile on his face as he sat staring at the illuminated water and it made me smile too.

“Hey,” I called out to him, startling him a bit.

“I was starting to worry this whole thing was a setup,” he told me, as I gingerly walked out onto the edge of the diving board and took a seat next to him. “I’m liking the whole art thief get-up,” he said, looking over my black outfit.

“I’m sneaky,” I joked with a laugh.

I probably shouldn’t have been so cavalier about everything when I knew Kendyll would pull the fire alarm any second and we’d need to make a break for it, but sitting here with Parker, I didn’t want to rush through all the things I had to tell him. I wanted to take my time and explain everything thoroughly so that he’d understand and hopefully not hate me.

“I’m
ready to talk to you,” I began slowly. “About everything. And I’m sorry I’ve been such a crazy person ever since you met me . . . officially.”

“Officially?” he asked, not realizing that I had known him for years. “Is that closet incident how you ‘officially’ meet people?”

“Something like that,” I answered. “I just wanted to tell you that I’m not the awful person I seem to be.”

“I already know you aren’t,” he said
.

With that,
I could have been totally and completely off the hook, but I didn’t want to be. I wanted him to know everything.

“I was b
efore," I said. "I know you don’t want to believe that, but being a coward and letting someone you know do horrible things while you stand by and watch makes you a horrible person too. So I was definitely mean . . . even if it was just by passive omission.”

“What made you change?”

“I’ve always wanted to. I guess I never felt secure enough with just being myself. But you kind of made that an okay thing to be,” I explained, feeling like my eloquence had completely gone out the window.

“I still don’t really understand ho
w—” he began, before his thought was cut off by the high-pitched wailing of the fire alarm.

“Crap, I thought we’d have more time,” I said urgently, pulling Parker to his feet and hoping we didn’t fall into the pool as we
climbed off of the diving board.

“What?” he asked in confusion.

This was it.

“Parker
, this whole thing was a setup. I was supposed to invite you here and then lock you in the pool room while the rest of The Squad spray-painted the lockers. Then we’d pull the fire alarm and you’d get blamed for the whole thing,” I said, all in one breath, pulling him along behind me toward the exit.

“But you’re still here,” he said loudly over the fire alarm’s din.

“I couldn’t let you get in trouble,” I said incredulously. “I
wanted
to turn Tawny in for everything, but I had to get you here tonight so that she’d still go through with the prank.”

Reaching the exit
, I tried to open the door I was supposed to lock, only to find that it had already been locked.

“What?” I said
, more to myself than to Parker.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“The door is locked. But I didn’t do it.”

“Well
, they gave you a key, right? Just unlock it from the inside,” he pointed out.

Good thing we had one sane person here
, since I never would've thought to do that in my current state of panic.

“I
don’t understand why they’d lock me in here too . . . or why they’d come back to lock the door at all if they knew I was doing it,” I said.

“You really can’t understand that?” he asked.

I let out a frustrated sigh, partially because I knew he was right and partially because I felt a little betrayed by The Squad right at that moment. To be fair, I guess I couldn’t really feel betrayed by the people I was about to turn in for vandalism. It was karma.

Placing the key in the lock
, I was met with a terror-inducing realization. The Squad had never meant for me to get Parker arrested—they wanted both of us to get arrested. They’d given me the wrong key on purpose, knowing that I’d go in to talk to him and that Tawny would lock the door behind me.

I wasn’t really sure what she was trying to pull. She had to know that if she got me in trouble
, I’d just tell the police that she was involved too—unless, of course, she thought I still held some sort of loyalty to her. Or maybe she didn’t think the police would ever believe me over her, just like Zane could never possibly want to be with me when he could have her.

It was actually pretty fortunate that Tawny underestimated me so much, because it meant she wouldn’t have expected me to gather evidence against her.

“I’m guessing getting locked in the pool wasn’t part of your plan?” Parker asked, sounding much more amused than he should have been when we were both about to get arrested.

“This is the only exit
, Parker! We’re pretty much screwed.”

“Elite Cheerleader can’t figure out how to pick a lock?” he asked, using my nickname from our online conversations.

Apparently he realized that he was talking to Reagan and not Xandris, because he instantly started his nervous neck rub move and looked at the floor in embarrassment.

“Do you know how to pick a lock?” I asked skeptically.

“No,” he admitted in shame.

“So our only option is to wait here for the police to arrive?” I asked, already knowing the answer as I made
my way back to the diving board. It was a nice little seat.

Parker followed close behind me and soon we were both dangling our legs over the open water
again, unsure of what to do.

“How long do you think it’ll take them to get here?” he asked.

“Parker, I haven’t been completely honest with you,” I said suddenly, ignoring the question and feeling like being trapped in our school’s pool room was as good a time as any to come clean.

“About what?” he asked
over the din of the alarm, looking slightly nervous.

“I
don’t know how to say this without sounding like a complete creeper,” I began, before stopping.

There really wasn't a good way to say, “
I’ve been pretending I don’t know you but really I do.”

“I’m kind of worried for where this conversation is going,” he admitted, still smiling but looking unsure.

“It’s just . . . I’m not a snotty cheerleader . . . I mean I am . . . or I was . . . but that’s not all I am.”

“I already told you I know there’s more to you than that,” he said reassuringly.

He really had no idea what was coming, did he?

“Parker, I’m Xandris,” I finally blurted out.

Maybe that was a little blunt, but if I didn’t come right out and say it, I’d never get it out of my system.

He was silent for a long time, looking puzzled
, as if trying to figure out how I could possibly know the name Xandris.

“From
Voyager’s Quest
?” he asked after a long pause.

“Unless you know another Xa
ndris from somewhere,” I said, trying to lighten the mood.

“But how . . .
I mean, did you know I was me when you were talking to me in game?”

“After I ran into you at the café I did,” I admitted guiltily.

“And you still let your friends do all of that crap to me?” he asked, sounding a bit mad.

At that point, I knew t
his wouldn’t go as well as I had hoped. In my mind, he’d say “Oh yay, I’m so glad the girl I’m friends with online and the girl I like in real life are the same person! Problem solved.”

Of course
, things never go quite that perfectly, do they? And sitting on the diving board with the fire alarm ringing in the background while we waited to be arrested, I wondered if we would really be able to get everything resolved in the short time we had together.

“I was awful. I can admit that. And I shouldn’t have let Tawny do all of those horrible things to you.
Instead of running around trying to make it better after she locked you in a closet or dumped her food on you, I should've stopped her from doing it in the first place. I realize that,” I said, trying to make him understand how much I meant everything I was saying.